The thought process of the executives at HBO must be . . . most of our patrons only know about THRONES from our show info where the GREENS vs BLACKS was briefly mentioned twice (King Geoffrey entertained Lady Margery with tales of Queen Rhaenyra's demise & Princess Shireen shared some tales about it with King Stannis) so the general HBO audience knows very little about the Targaryen civil war . . . just that it occured 170 years prior to the pilot episode. So the regular, ordinary fan will just surmise that these Black & Black biracial Targaryenesque people apparently DID NOT survive the Targaryen civil war which took place over 175 years before S1 of THRONES right?
That may be the in universe justification. I think its more about HBO moving to streaming first and their masters at AT&T being like we are not sinking this type of money into series that does so poorly with a major Demo (Black People) so you guys need to raise the diversity levels so we can hit all the quadrants.
That theory would suggest that HBO was in dire need to raise the ratings for its aSoI&F adaptation though? Trust me . . . they are not worried about any specific ratings demo with regards to this project. This is a can't miss grand slam as all they have to do is faithfully portray the source material ~ "Fire & Blood". The worldwide audience made GoT the biggest cable show ever . . . they abandoned the diversity demo after S2 but their ratings climbed steadily every season premiere 3-8. The executives must have other motivations because it is a ratings risk to deviate from established source material as a general rule wouldn't you agree (see fan reaction to the Dornish storyline on HBO)?
HBO ratings were great for the time of that there is no doubt but this is the Streaming Wars right now and AT&T who owns Warner Bros (WB) and thus HBO is in high debt and cannot afford to lose. Its a different ERA and there is new guard steering the ship. So yes GoT was major but I am not sure its as strong now as it was then considering how badly the ending was panned and this is a spinoff of less well defined material even if it is still canon. So I would argue they need to build back faith on this IP. As for source material deviation it is an issue but the Dornish plot was also panned for being SHIT. Most of the Game of Thrones fans were casuals who never read the books as well so all they know about deviations is they thought the story was bad and what people online tell them was the real storyline. ALso I wouldnt say racebending a character is the same level per se as butchering whole storylines, I am sure some fans will be mad but not enough for it to matter to HBO. Just give him white hair and violet eyes.
With the way GRRM oddly ignored House Velaryon when writing the main series of books . . . it makes one wonder if he didn't intentionally RESERVE "The Old, the True, the Brave" for just this very purpose!! It has long since been rumored that GRRM strongly considered making House Targaryen a family of Black Valyrian dragon riders before deciding on their current appearance. So maybe this is his ace in the hole should foreseeable criticism from the diversity police one day arise? He had this all planned out and set to the side so if he ever found the right offer/buyer for a TV deal (remember he comes from TV with CBS) he has this card to play ~ a Targaryenesque royal family of Black dragon riders lol!! I am saying GRRM kept this House Velaryon on the sidelines purposely . . . no Blackfyre rebellion, no Robert's rebellion . . . GRRM just held them in reserve so the vast majority wouldn't have preconceived notions if he made them BLACK!!
I am also a fan of TDD as he along with Joe Magician, Preston Jacobs, Rawrist, In Deep Think and the Order of the Greenhand are the very cream of the crop of Game of Thrones youtubers because they think very deeply and make persuasive out of the box arguments backed up by evidence. Here let me share this interesting alternative theory for Jon Snow's backstory from Rawrist (keep in mind that Lord Varys was a member of The Mad King ~ Aerys Targaryen's royal court strategically playing both sides to advance his influence in the Realm . . . even posing as Rugen the Royal dungeon master of the Black Cells): Here is another from an even better YouTuber in Preston Jacobs as he reads so much supplementary GRRM material to gain a greater understanding of the man and his methods. You know about my theory that we met a false Targaryen in (f) Prince Viserys Targaryen III in THRONES well Preston goes about it with his own theory and its very persuasive!!! Please watch one video and you will enjoy all six videos even if you have not read the books yet:
Well, guess this officially means we aren't ever going to see those last two books in the A Song of Ice & Fire series.... https://www.npr.org/2021/03/29/9823...signs-new-five-year-deal-with-hbo-and-hbo-max
It wouldn't surprise me if that's what it means. I've pretty much given up on him getting it done. It makes me wish he'd finished writing the series before they ever made the show. The show was great, even in spite of the sloppy final season, but it doesn't even come close to measuring up to the books. As for the new shows, I couldn't care less. If the old turd can't take care of business and finish what he started, it makes me not give a rat's ass about his new projects.